What Makes a Technology a Success?

The march of technology is a steady one, just look at how much the Internet has grown in ten years. But for some technologies, their time in the sun is a short period. The case in point, 3D television.

The darling of the Consumer Electronics Show in 2010 and 2011 was a practical no-show at the 2012 event. Why has 3D fizzled? Possibilities include a lack of quality 3D content (Too much “Clash of the Titans”, not enough “Avatar”), a relatively high price point for 3D capable televisions, and/or possibly the headache inducing fashion-challenging glasses users had to wear.

But the manufacturers shouldn't lose all hope. Heck, even Google fails to catch a Wave, sometimes. There’s still potential for growth and adoption, particularly as more content becomes available and the technology becomes more ubiquitous.

So, what does technology have to do to catch on? Being brand new or the only kid on the block can help, but it needs to be more than shiny and fresh to take hold. In order to succeed, a technology has to be/do three things:

1. It has to offer something meaningful. This is primarily what led 3D TV to fizzle. Right now it is more of a gimmick than a real advance in entertainment technology. This is due to the lack of content that leverages everything 3D can offer, and the implementation of the technology (the requirement to wear bulky, ugly glasses and occasional headaches and eyestrain suffered by viewers) doesn’t raise the level of entertainment enough to get people invested.
2. It has to be sticky. It has to offer something that users will keep coming back to. This is one of the reasons why Facebook stole the social media crown from MySpace (aside from an easier interface and much nicer layouts). It offered more hooks, more tools and features that members could use to participate in their online relationships.
3. There should be room for the technology to grow. This is a challenge facing 3D television, while there are ways the technology can improve in quality and polish the user experience, its ultimate function is singular, to present entertainment. Consider Facebook once again, which has grown from providing an online message board to providing targeted advertisement services, tools for finding recommendations, even helping users behind the scenes by shaping their search experience based on their relationships.

All of the above are reasons why Automation Centre has been in business for almost 20 years.

• Our products are meaningful. How much would it increase your efficiencies if you had a 100% paperless accounts payable system?
• We’re sticky. Seriously, how much easier can work be when you can manage projects in Outlook?
• Our products are always growing. Not only do our products scale with the organization, but our products are also consistently getting smarter and more integrated, both with each other and email, providing natural workflow opportunities. You can now drag-and-drop emails from your Outlook client to create tasks, project documents and support tickets in TrackerSuite.Net.